NFL prospects with Chicago-area roots were well-represented during the draft.
The majority were selected on Day 3, when the league finished the selection process with Rounds 4 through 7 on Saturday.
The Tennessee Titans selected Tate, an Ohio State wide receiver, and Coogan, an Indiana center, who were briefly teammates at the Catholic prep in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood.
The Titans jostled some draft boards by taking Tate with the fourth pick on opening night. Then in the sixth round Saturday, they snagged Coogan with the 194th pick.
Former Marist coach Ron Dawczak said Tate, Coogan and linebacker Jimmy Rolder (more on him below) showed early on that they were “cut from a different cloth.”
By drafting Tate and Coogan, the Titans clearly were making an effort to build up the offense around franchise quarterback Cam Ward.
Coogan said via the team website that earning a starting spot “takes work, everything is earned. No good thing comes easy. I think everybody knows that now, but especially stepping up to this to this league. It’s going to be hard and that’s good.
Tate said he looks forward to facing opponents’ No. 1 cover corners as Ward’s go-to target: “That’s all you can ever want, the best on best.”
Titans GM Mike Borgonzi said of Tate: “He’s a bigger, vertical guy. The route running, very efficient, his route running. I thought he had exceptional ball skills to be able to track the footballs, catch radius downfield. I think he’s going to be a great fit in this offense.”
The Wolverines linebacker and former teammate of Coogan and Tate gets to stay in the state of Michigan with his selection by the Detroit Lions in the fourth round with the 118th pick.
“First time I looked at Rolder … I just kept saying, ‘Football player. This guy is a football player,’” Lions general manager Brad Holmes said. “I thought he was highly instinctive.”
Rolder talked about how when he was at Marist, the football offers weren’t rolling in from colleges, and the third baseman was on a path to a different type of draft: baseball.
“When I committed (to) the University of Illinois (for baseball) my sophomore year, it was during COVID,” he said. “I wasn’t really sure what the future held with football, if I was going to play again, but ultimately football has always been my passion and after only playing a few games of football my junior year because of COVID, after I got my first offer about six weeks into my senior season.
“So, it was a big-time blessing and (I was) very glad and grateful that it happened because I like baseball but I love football, so I’m just glad everything worked out.”
The Indianapolis Colts drafted the Florida Gators edge in the fifth round at No. 156.
As a wide receiver, Gumbs helped Simeon win the Chicago Public League championship as a junior in 2019.
General manager Chris Ballard said that the Colts staff was intrigued by Gumbs because “he was a walk-on at Northern Illinois, played wideout, tight end, goes to Florida, they move him to defensive end.
“We think this kid’s got some upside. He’s a tremendous athlete, he can help us on teams, (and) we can develop him kind of as an outside backer rusher.”
Actually, the Kansas Jayhawks offensive tackle claims all of Villa Park as well as Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood.
During the scouting combine in February in Indianapolis, he was beaming from ear to ear while talking about his various Chicago-area ties and Puerto Rican roots: “I love the South Side, but we never get no love, for real. Humboldt Park is a beautiful spot. If you ever want to go, they’ve got the two Puerto Rican flags.